First Mission

"Yes, Teacher Sarutobi!" Ueno Kei replied steadily.

"Mm. From now on, when you don't have a mission, come here regularly. I'll set aside some time to guide your training," the Third Hokage said slowly.

"Yes!" Ueno Kei answered respectfully. He had thought that joining the Anbu and gaining permission to read the Scroll of Sealing was already the biggest surprise, but he hadn't expected the Third Hokage to make time to personally guide him.

This was an even bigger surprise. Ueno Kei felt even more warmly toward the Third Hokage and respected him even more. That was only natural. Even when it came to elders, people instinctively remembered those who treated them well and cared for them, and were more inclined to grow close to them.

That wasn't being selfish or anything like that.

People were just like that.

The Third Hokage seemed to suddenly think of something. "Kei, at this stage, your training goals should be to gain more experience as a ninja and learn a few ninjutsu techniques that are easy to master and highly practical. Understand?"

"Yes!"

"Also, Kei, watch closely. These are the Hand Seals for the Summoning Technique. Memorize them. Of course, your chakra isn't sufficient to use the technique yet. After all, summoning a large creature requires an enormous amount of chakra."

The Third Hokage spoke calmly. Ueno Kei was briefly taken aback. How did the Third Hokage know he had a Summoning Scroll? Then he understood. His own strength was so weak, while the Third Hokage was the leader of the village. It wasn't strange that he knew what was going on in the village.

Although the Third Hokage was now his teacher and wouldn't do anything to him, the revelation still served as a warning. Ueno Kei reminded himself to improve his sensory abilities from now on. Otherwise, if someone could catch him off guard whenever they wanted, he'd be in serious trouble.

Of course, Ueno Kei didn't know that the Third Hokage used the special method of a Crystal Ball to observe what was happening in the village. He assumed that someone in the Anbu had reported his situation to the Third Hokage.

Ueno Kei watched the Third Hokage's movements without blinking. To help him remember the sequence of the seals, the Third Hokage formed them more slowly.

"Boar, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Ram." The Third Hokage demonstrated the Hand Seals for the Summoning Technique.

Ueno Kei nodded slightly to show he'd memorized them. The Hand Seals for the Summoning Technique were actually quite simple. The hardest part was obtaining a Summoning Scroll. And if someone signed the scroll without first forming a contract with the summoned creatures, then the first time they used the Summoning Technique to call one, they would still have to earn its approval—sometimes even the approval of its entire clan.

That was the hardest part. It wasn't as people believed, that obtaining a Summoning Scroll and signing it let you summon and command the creatures at will. Summoned creatures were far from lacking in intelligence.

They were much like humans. If you were weak, or failed to earn their approval in some way, then even if you had a Summoning Scroll, trying to order them around? Heh, that was practically impossible.

Although no summoned creature in the Ninja World had ever been known to break its contract, no one could be sure that such a thing would never happen.

That was because the contract formed through the Summoning Technique wasn't the master-servant contract that ordinary civilians imagined. It was a contract between equals who fought side by side!

That was crucial. Of course, generally speaking, once a contract was formed and the summoned creature had accepted the summoner, it would almost never betray them. In battle, even if it was gravely wounded and on the verge of death, it wouldn't withdraw.

That was why so many ninja in the Ninja World longed to obtain a summoned creature.

After seeing that Ueno Kei had memorized the Hand Seals, the Third Hokage gave him a few more important reminders about the Summoning Technique, then turned and left the room.

Ueno Kei watched the Third Hokage's figure gradually disappear into the night, excitement and delight returning to his face.

Ueno Kei immediately sat cross-legged on the floor and eagerly opened the Scroll of Sealing. The Third Hokage had already removed the Sealing Jutsu placed on it. After three days, once Ueno Kei had finished reading, the Third Hokage would seal it again.

For the next three days, Ueno Kei barely left the room. He knew time was precious. Although he was now the Third Hokage's student and his position was fairly important, it was still uncertain whether he would have another chance to read the Scroll of Sealing in the future.

The time he had now was extremely precious.

In short, he would find a few techniques he could use at present and would still be able to use in the coming years, and memorize them. As much as Ueno Kei might covet the rest, he knew that biting off more than he could chew wasn't realistic.

Three days passed in a flash.

The day was bright and clear, with no clouds in the sky. Beneath the dense canopy of trees, several figures were intermittently hidden from view.

"Qian, has the captain still not arrived?" one broad-shouldered figure asked in a low voice.

"Should be soon. The captain sent word earlier that he was almost here," a petite figure replied.

Only the faint sunlight filtering through the trees made it possible to make out the four figures. They were all wearing standard Anbu uniforms, with Konoha Ninja Village Forehead Protectors on their foreheads.

They were the team Ueno Kei belonged to: Akamatsu's squad.

Ueno Kei was among them. Since this was his first mission, he was especially quiet, not saying a word. He knew that to this team, he was a rookie in every sense of the word. In experience, strength, and seniority, he was worlds behind the other three.

Of course, his three senior teammates didn't say much to him either. The Anbu was no place for gentle courtesy.

Teamwork and cooperation mattered here, but if someone got themselves killed and dragged the team down, the others would abandon them without hesitation.

Ninja, after all, put missions above everything else!

That was even more true of the Anbu.

Missions were their lives! As the elite of each ninja village, they carried out work that the village itself knew nothing about. You could say that the Anbu were all unsung heroes. As a result, no matter how much credit they earned, or whether they died or anything else happened to them, no one would know—not outside the village's upper ranks.

So the Anbu all became somewhat extreme in temperament. Aside from their missions, nothing else mattered to them.

Suddenly, the four of them tensed and swiftly took up fighting stances. They had sensed a powerful chakra rapidly approaching.

A moment later, the four lowered their kunai, because the newcomer was their squad leader, Akamatsu, a jōnin!

Akamatsu gave his four teammates a cold look, then said in a low voice, "This mission is to wipe out a bandit stronghold near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, then rendezvous with our village's ninja and recover the classified documents!"

"Yes," the four replied solemnly. But Ueno Kei felt a little puzzled. A bandit stronghold? At most, that should be a B-Rank Mission, perhaps even a C-Rank Mission. Why send out an entire Anbu squad?

Akamatsu's next words cleared up Ueno Kei's confusion.